1. Field Of The Invention
The invention relates to a process for the production of 2-chloro-5-chloromethyl-pyridine of the formula: ##STR6## starting from 6-hydroxynicotinic acid.
2. Background Art
Until now several expensive processes for the production of 2-chloro-5-chloromethyl-pyridine, which is sometimes abbreviated below as CCPM, have been known. For example, both European Published Patent Application Nos. 373463 and 373464 describe a process for the production of CCPM starting from nicotinic acid. Both applications describe a 5-step process according to the following reaction diagram: ##STR7## The drawbacks of these two processes are that the desired product is only produced by an expensive 5-step synthesis and, accordingly, CCPM is obtained in a small yield relative to the feedstock nicotinic acid. Another drawback is that a large amount of salts accumulates as waste in these processes.